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Template:Booting Up

Revision as of 14:14, 21 November 2013 by Alexalspach (Talk | contribs)

Multiple steps must be taken to properly and safely boot up and run the Allegro Dog internal computer and hardware. The following instructions should be followed closely. If you need any help, please contact us.

Note Refer to the Control-I/O Panel diagram for switch, button and indicator locations.


  1. Elevate the Allegro Dog
  2. Supply Required Power (24VDC)
  3. Flip On Main Power Switch
  4. Turn Computer On
  5. Release Emergency Stop
  6. Turn Motor Controller Power On
  7. Establish Remote Connection
  8. Run the Included Software
  9. Find Encoder Offsets (Homing)
  10. Enable Motor Control
  11. Assume Ready Position
  12. Walk Around



Contents

Supply Required Power (24VDC)

1.

Supply 24V to the Allegro Dog using either either external or battery power.

The Allegro Dog runs on 24VDC, and under normal conditions draws no more than 20 amps. The current required varies greatly with the algorithm and application. The dog can be powered via external power supplies or by multiple internal and external batteries.


Note When power is supplied to the power management system it will automatically turn on without any further action from the user. It is only powered off when the power supply is removed. Powering the internal computer and motor controllers requires further action.


When the power management system is powered on, the voltages of both the power supply to the power management system and to the motor controllers is shown on the rear LCD panel voltage display.


More Information: Power Required, LCD Panel Voltage Display

Flip On Main Power Switch

2.

Flip the main power switch to enable internal computer power and the 5V, 12V and 12V/B power lines.

The main power switch controls the supply of power to then entire Allegro Dog system. To use the internal computer, motor controllers / motors or 24V/B, 12V and 5V internal power sources, this switch must be switched ON.

Note Upon flipping this switch, the 24V/B, 12V and 5V internal power sources will become active. The internal computer, as well as the motor controllers and motors will remain unpowered until manually powered on by the user.

Note Turning this switch off will kill power to the entire Allegro Dog system no matter the status. Both the computer and motors / motor controllers, as well as any other device powered by the power management system, will lose power immediately.


Available directly off of the Allegro Dog's internal power management system are 24V/B, 12V and 5V internal power sources.

More Information: Main Power Switch, Internal Power Sources, Control-I/O Panels

Turn Computer On

3.

Press the PC Power Switch button to boot up the internal computer.

Internal Computer
The Allegro Dog's internal computer is an Advantech MIO-5290 single board computer (SBC).
External Computer
The Allegro Dog can be controlled in realtime using an external computer with RoboticsLab™ and RealtimeRobotics™ installed via CAN interface.

More Information: Computer, Control-I/O Panels

Release Emergency Stop

4.

Make sure the emergency stop is released so that the motor controllers can be powered on.

The emergency stop switch kills the 24V/A supply of power to the motor controllers and motors. The switch affects nothing else in the system. When triggered, the computer and any other devices supplied by the 24V/B, 12V or 5V internal power sources will remain active.

Note When turning on the 24V/A power, make sure the emergency switch is up.

More Information: Emergency Stop, Control-I/O Panels

Turn Motor Controller Power On

5.

Press the Motor Controller Power Switch (or use the remote) to enable the 24V/A motor controller power line.

The motor controllers and motors are powered via the power management system's 24V/A output. Power to the motor controllers can be turned on using the Motor Controller/Motor Power Switch (No. 8 on the Control-I/O Panels) or the wireless remote.

Unlike the Motor Controller/Motor Power Switch, the wireless remote can both turn on and turn off the motor controller power (24V/A).

Note If the motor controllers lose power for any reason, you must shut down and restart the control software to reestablish CAN communication.

More Information: Motor Controller Power, Control-I/O Panels, Motor Controller Power Remote

Establish Remote Connection

6.

Connect to the dog's internal computer.

Template:Remote Connection Intro

TODO: Something!

Run the Included Software

7.

Run the included control software tools/test GUI.

  1. Double click the XXXX Allegro Dog Controller.
  2. Double click the other shortcut GUI
  3. In the Comman Prompt, press the tab key to connect to and initialize the motor controllers
  4. {{TODO}


  • RoboticsLab™ Runtime
  • RealtimeRobotics
  • Device Drivers and Implementation (CAN, IMU, etc.)
  • Simulation Application
  • Realtime Control Application
  • Sample Controller w/ Simple Walking Algorithm
  • Homing Controller

TODO: Something!


Find Encoder Offsets (Homing)

8.

Raise the dog, Straighten the legs and perform homing procedure to gather relative encoder offsets.

When the Allegro Dog is first powered on a simple homing procedure must be executed to find the offsets necessary for the incremental (relative) encoders at each joint. This procedure must be followed before the joints can be properly and safely controlled.

The homing procedure slowly jogs each of the 12 joints until a homing sensor is activated and deactivated. The angular displacement between the start of this procedure and the sensor activation is used to determine the offset necessary to properly locate each joint's zero position.


Note Every time the Allegro Dog is powered on (every time the motor controllers lose and regain power), the joint offsets must be found again using the homing procedure.

More Information: Homing

Enable Motor Control

9.

Press ENABLE on the GUI to enable torque-PD control of the motors.

Assume Ready Position

10.

Press READY on the GUI to assume the ready-to-walk position.

Walk Around

11.

Lower the dog to the floor then press HOP to begin walking in place.

If stably walking in place, you may then press WALK or WALK BACKWARD to move in either direction or STOP to stop moving. When not moving, you may push BASE UP or BASE DOWN to raise or lower the base, respectively.

Note The dog may not walk as stably with the base higher or lower than the starting position.